Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.
I like that these aren’t too sweet and have a good creaminess but are in fact labelled as low fat. I think the passion fruit one was my favourite and I actually ended up mixing my cereal into them rather than drinking them because they were lovely and thick.
Laimon Fresh is a natural sparkling drink made with lemon, lime and mint. I tried it first on its own and liked the balance of flavours; a bit more lemon or lime wouldn’t hurt though. I have also tried it with gin and vodka and it worked very well with both as a mixer. Because of the distinct flavour of this I can see myself happily drinking it throughout the Summer as it is or mixed with all sorts of things. Having a few cans of this in the fridge ready to go means that I can add a bit of flavour when the mood takes me.
Picky and sharing food is my favourite kind. To have a table covered in all sorts of plates and bowls offering a different flavour or texture is a sight for sore eyes. It’s something I like to take time over shopping for too but sometimes I don’t have the time I’d like to have to go to the deli and pick bits out. Enter Nife is Life the Italian online deli.
We were sent a range of products to try from their online shop including:
Tomato Sfilati (breadsticks)
Olive Sfoglie (crackers)
Grana Padano DOP
Prosciutto Riserva
Speck Alto Adige IGP
Mortadella from Bologna IGP
Bresaola Punta d’Anca della Valtellina IGP
Burrata from Puglia
Nonno Nanni Stracchino
Mixed Olives with Herbs
Sundried Tomatoes with Grana Padano
Grilled Artichokes in oil
(IGP meaning Protected Geographical Indication (which in Italian is Indicazione Geografica Protetta hence the rearrangement of the acronym) and DOP meaning Protected Designation of Origin (or in Italian, Denominazione di Origine Protetta).
Skrei is a much loved Norwegian delicacy. Skrei must be caught fully grown and meet the strict quality standards to be labelled as such. This source of cod is a sustainable one and most of the Skrei are line caught. You can read more about Hugh’s Fish Fight here.
I didn’t want to mess around and over complicate this delicate fish so I cooked it very simply. I fried a piece in a little olive oil and butter only flipping it once to prevent it breaking up.
When the cod was almost ready I added a little extra butter, some salt and pepper and a small handful of parsley to make a quick sauce.
The box I was sent contained: Sweet and Salt Popcorn, Simply Golden Berries, Chilli and Lime Cashews, Peanuts and Roasted Corn, Scottish Shortbread, Piece (sic) and Love Chocolate, Morning Kick Tea and a Flaxseed bar.
I was surprised at how many things fit inside the box; more and more things kept appearing. I have so far tried the popcorn (I love sweet and salt together so really liked this), the chocolate (one with salt and caramel and one with dried sour cherries, both really nice) and the Scottish shortbread (I would say the best ‘ready-made’ shortbread I’ve ever had). I can’t wait to try the rest of it.
There were five teas to try (I almost didn’t have enough appropriate chinaware) and below are the notes I made about what I thought they tasted like. In case you are wondering the little piles of stuff next to each cup are what the tea leaves look like before they are made into tea.
Ali Shan Oolong Tea – grassy and acidic flavour with lovely long tea leaves, this one was really fresh.
High Mountain Oolong Tea – clean and fresh flavour with a slight sweetness, I liked the little curly leaves.
Dong Ding Oolong Tea (moderately roasted) – toast and chocolate flavour, again with nice long leaves.
Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea – floral, citrus and liquorice flavours with long leaves, this one was my favourite.
Osmanthus Oolong Tea – pomegranate and fruity taste and slightly toasty.
The below recipe is from Manju’s book with a few of my own tweaks.
For Murgh Makhani for two you will need:
The below recipe for flatbreads is from Jamie Oliver and it makes fantastic cheat’s naan breads!
For 6 cheat’s naan breads you will need:
I can safely say, hand down, that this is the best curry I’ve ever made. The level of spice and chilli was perfect for me and I loved the creamy taste even though the actual quantity of cream and butter was very small. Guilt free! I think next time I would double the quantity of the sauce for the same amount of chicken. I really like this book, the pictures are clean and simple and the recipes easy to follow. The recipes are certainly a step up from other ‘easy’ recipes (which are only easy because they require you to open a jar of paste) but you’re not cooking and preparing for hours either. There’s a good balance between meat, fish and vegetable curries too. I will definitely be cooking from this book again; the only problem being which recipe to choose!
Thank you to Manju for the book and for permission to print one of her lovely recipes.
Preheat an oven to 180C and butter six individual ramekins.
Put the milk, shallot, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to the boil then strain into a jug. I always enjoy doing this as it smells so good.
Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and cook for a few minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk then simmer for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cheese before adding the egg yolks, chives and a little salt and pepper.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then fold these into the cheese mixture. Divide between the buttered ramekins.
The ingredients in the box were packed nicely with the chilled ingredients well wrapped to stop anything else getting damp. When you unpack it it’s like playing a detective; what’s this ingredient for, what does that go in to? The recipe cards are easy to follow with good pictures. The only trouble is knowing what to cook first.
We started with the Chicken Tinga (above) which was easy to make and used some of the Wahaca sauce which smelt great. We had to poach the chicken and then shred it and poaching chicken isn’t something I’ve done for many years so I was glad to give it another go. It worked well with the brown rice and was spicy without being too hot.After that we had Chorizo and Halloumi skewers with Tabbouleh. For this they had sent a different kind of chorizo than the recipe stated (sausages rather than slices) so they emailed the recipe amendment across. This was really good too; the pungent chorizo and salty, creamy cheese were nice with the fresh and citrusy tabbouleh.
I like all the names of places you see as you drive around Cornwall. My particular favourite is the ‘Atlantic Highway’ as it conjures up such optimistic visions of an incredible road surrounded by sea but in reality it’s just like any other bit of tarmac. Still, good to say you’ve been on it. The views (as you can see) are good from wherever you are; blue skies (we were quite lucky), sea and green fields. As we were only down for a few days we tried to cram as much in as possible. We started with a trip to the Wadebridge Wine Shop which sells some amazing wines from all over the world, beers, ciders and spirits; they have two Cornish gins available there too.